Nobody likes to see their baby scared or upset, but there are some moments in motherhood that make you laugh out loud, despite your baby's obvious displeasure. Like farting, for instance. My daughter can rip some loud ones now and clap her hands with glee as she does, but as a baby, she was downright terrified of them. I used to wonder why my baby was afraid of her farts, but I was also too busy laughing at her horror to do much research.
Turns out that babies are pretty prone to be scared of loud noises anyway. According to Parenting, your baby's sense of hearing is already fully developed at birth. A baby is able to hear as well as you do, yet they have no idea what they're hearing, how to identify it, or what it means. Parents also notes that a baby's startle reflex is extremely common and impulsive. When they hear a loud noise, like a fart, they don't recognize it as a common sound, so their body involuntarily reacts by jumping. All they know is that it's loud and it comes out of nowhere.
Which is pretty much what a fart does, am I right? It comes out of nowhere and it's loud. Your baby is just relaxing and having some tummy time or a little swing sesh when a fart erupts out of their hiney and makes them freak out. (And makes you laugh hysterically.) It also doesn't help that farts can sound completely different every time. Apparently the sound of a fart depends on the way gas gets inside your body and really loud ones are often brought on by swallowing too much air, a common occurrence in babies as they feed, suck on pacifiers, and cry.
So when you realize that your baby is not only prone to being afraid of loud noises, but that their daily activities contribute to louder-than-average farts, you can understand why they might be a little freaked out, and why you can't stop laughing. Don't worry, it won't send them to therapy when they're an adult.
